10 Reasons NOT to own an RV...

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It so happens that we sold our motorhome yesterday but not for any of the reasons mentioned in the article. Age and medical conditions sort of demanded that it find a new owner and so it has.  It will be the last in a line of 7 different RVs we have had since 1965. They didn't even call them RVs then. They were campers or trailers.  But ours was sold to a local dealer who told me something surprising.  He specializes in used motorhomes and 5vers and told me that the coronavirus has done nothing but boost sales for him on Craigslist, RV Trader and other places that he advertises.  He is now hearing the term 'mobile quarantining' being mentioned more often.  He sold 3 coaches yesterday and most of these people will have to drive in from long distance to claim them.

As for reasons not to buy an RV I have this to say. We have planned on selling for the past two years.  2018 was a bad medical year and the coach only got used two nights at a nearby campground.  2019 it was not used at all as we had a tornado brush by our home and destroying several neighbors.  Spent the whole summer dealing with contractors fixing the house.  But everytime I went over to take it out of storage for a general run of about 20 miles I went home saying NOPE, I AM KEEPING IT. There was just something about being in it and riding around and looking at all the features we had at our disposal.

Now, all that is gone and I would be lying if I didn't say we will miss it but not the expense. We also still have a nice little toad complete with hitch and brake system in case we have a need to hook something in front of it...lol
 
Yes like others have said, they must need the ad revenue. Did you notice the nice comfortable / luxurious cruise ship in the background of the first picture? Strange add or article for a RV centered publication. Did you notice it is based in Canada? I like traveling in my poor old RV. I hate to tell them my RV is more comfortable and quite probably, no, no it is more luxurious and comfortable than their hotel/hotel room. I don't have to train any new bead bugs eather.
Yes the new people need to understand the cost and associated problems before buying a RV. All to often we see people on the forums who have or are going to buy a RV to live in on the cheap.
Lou Schneider, is absolutely right. The ability to pay cash lost any benefit to the buyer years ago. Fore the reasons he stated and several more. I think where this all got started is back in the late 50s and 60s some car dealers did there own in house financing. So if you could pay "cash" and they didn't have to wait to get all there money they would give a discount. The old saying  "If you can't pay cash, you can't afford it."
is nothing more than a salv to those who realey couldn't afford something even if they financed it.
Bill
 
Not sure what all the hoop-la is about. Obviously an opinion piece which the author has the right to express, as does the reader to agree or disagree.  All the points made are worthwhile considerations for someone considering an RV and lets face it their are two sides to every story, it is up to the reader to determine if any or all of the points made are enough to not purchase an RV.  Some of the points made can also be applied to other forms of recreational vehicles, ie. boats.  Having said that, some of the points made are kind of stupid, for example weather and traffic which can effect any form of recreation, whether a drive to a resort, boating etc. 
 
HA!  The article is realistic. And exposes many things that newbs have not probably considered. Wifey and I considered almost every point and have experienced  many unexpected expenses in one short year.

I agree with others that this should be a sticky. A rather controversial stick at that.....:)
 
SeilerBird said:
The whole point he misses is that RVs may be expensive but it can be cheaper than driving and motelling it.
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Particularly if you are traveling with a number of kids, which is why I like an RV. And if you are content with an older model and are at all handy, the maintenance and repairs don't break the bank.
 
I can?t disagree with any of them.  We could take a lot of trips with the money spent on the camper and truck.  Just show up and check in to a hotel.  No worries about parking,setting up.  Just flop on the hotel bed and relax.  Is this bed clean?  Wait,is there a fridge for my insulin?  then we get hungry.  Gotta get dressed and go out.  Pick up snacks and drinks for later.  Lug it to the room.

Ok,with an RV you gotta do a lot of stuff too. Yeah,there is hardly any rational reason to have an RV.  But I can take my dog and just step outside for doody calls.  We can sit around a campfire.  It?s our bed and our sheets.

 
WILDEBILL308 said:
The old saying  "If you can't pay cash, you can't afford it."
is nothing more than a salv to those who realey couldn't afford something even if they financed it.
Bill
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I disagree. For me it's a way to stay out of debt. I feel a lot of stress when I owe money. I've never even had a car payment. I'm not suggesting that everyone needs to live like that, there's obviously financially responsible people all over the place, but for ME, I live MY life that if I can't buy it, I skip it, even if I could easily afford to finance it.
 
Here's another reason to not own an RV.  It's hard to find a place to park it.  I'm not talking storage.  I'm talking being able to maneuver it into a very tight space.  Like between a rock and a hard place.  Or like ours which is between our garage and our neighbors carport, both very hard. 

On the upside, in earthquake country, it's nice to have another home with everything we need 50 feet from our door. 
 
RVMommaTo6 said:
I disagree. For me it's a way to stay out of debt. I feel a lot of stress when I owe money. I've never even had a car payment. I'm not suggesting that everyone needs to live like that, there's obviously financially responsible people all over the place, but for ME, I live MY life that if I can't buy it, I skip it, even if I could easily afford to finance it.
Click to expand...

Well put. We both think about tomorrow and what a sudden lack of income could do to us. I strongly suspect we will start seeing posts, because of the virus and layoffs, like we saw in 2008, about those folks with upside down financing and loss of income.

Keep on rolling
Richard
 
While much of what he writes may be true, none of it would have persuaded me to not buy and enjoy our first RV.  Can?t hurt to have ?eyes open? when making a significant financial and lifestyle purchase.  With just over a year of owning & using our RV (we are still newbies) I have no desire to click ?book a room?. 
 
garyb1st said:
Guess I missed it as well.  ???
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go re read what Lou Schneider and I posted. Now think about this. I just bought a used coach I could have paid cash $150,000.00 but I financed it. My interest is under 5%. I have the the resources to make the monthly payments without touching any of my reserve AKA the $150,000 and that is invested at over 7%. Now I can deduct the interest from my income tax and next year and I can deduct (in Texas) the sales tax.
Where is the benefit of paying cash?
What Amanda and Richard were talking about "If something happens to the economy" Well if you paid cash you don't have that nest egg to fall back on.
So what is the benefit of paying cash especially on a depreciating asset.
Bill


 
Hey Folks,
Let's look on the Brightside of articles like this.
Maybe they'll keep those who are not joyful and committed to this lifestyle off the roads and out of the campgrounds.
My 2c.
dcb 
 
Guess it's all very personal.  For me, the benefit in paying cash is I don't leave a debt burdened RV to my wife if I die before her.  While you may have gotten 7% on your investments in the past, it's unlikely you'll be seeing that in the near term.  The 5% interest rate you pay will not go down.  And if you upgrade and have to pay off your RV, you may find that your effective rate was considerably grater. 

When I bought my Jeep 4 years ago, I financed it for 6 years.  Did so because the rate was less than 2%.  What I didn't consider was the front end loading on the interest.  When I looked at paying it off a year ago, I had already paid most of the interest so I decided keep the money in my pocket.  The effective interest rate based on an early pay off was considerably more than 2%.   
 
WILDEBILL308 said:
go re read what Lou Schneider and I posted. Now think about this. I just bought a used coach I could have paid cash $150,000.00 but I financed it. My interest is under 5%. I have the the resources to make the monthly payments without touching any of my reserve AKA the $150,000 and that is invested at over 7%. Now I can deduct the interest from my income tax and next year and I can deduct (in Texas) the sales tax.
Where is the benefit of paying cash?
What Amanda and Richard were talking about "If something happens to the economy" Well if you paid cash you don't have that nest egg to fall back on.
So what is the benefit of paying cash especially on a depreciating asset.
Bill
Click to expand...
We always run the same calculations Bill does in deciding whether to pay cash or to finance.  We have a mortgage though we have plenty of money in current tax deferred investments to cover the price of the house. Between investment return and the tax penalties of removing a chunk of money, it made lots of sense to do that. However, right now investments are not making basically anything. We have some cash coming from selling parts of the old family farm, and we decided to pay off the house instead of investing it. Even though the house is at less than 4%, it is more than I would be making if we invested the money. This is an example that the calculation changes all the time, and you need to be open to changing decisions if the conditions change. We didn?t have enough of a loan to even partially get a tax advantage for it. And I do understand Amanda?s and Richard?s point of view too. Not having any debt provides you margin to handle bad things that might come your way, particularly if you are living on an income stream that is variable.
 
Different strokes.  The last time I ran a calculation to buy anything was in 1991.  That's when I bought my home.  I would never do a financial calculation to buy a toy.

 
 
Wow, what I can't imagine is how that article actually helps. Isn't the point of content to actually help, provide useful and interesting info, and not reflect the author's biased opinion? I didn't like in the least, honestly. Sure, everything has downsides, but what's with all the hate, though.
 
A few of those points about breaking down could be combined into responsible maintenance. If you stay on top of inspections and scheduled maintenance, there shouldn't be many issues. Another thing I have found is that spending a day to go through everything a month before your first trip can save you tons of money in last minute emergency spending.

We have had some weekends where we spend over a grand on emergency repairs in the middle of nowhere because I didn't have time to inspect plumbing, etc. before the first trip of the year. Now, I make sure I start a month before, so I can piece at it if needed and it has been a long time since we have had a fitting break, electrical, trailer wiring issue or an engine problem.
 
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